Royal Borough councillor questions delivery of £10m pledge for flood alleviation

A Royal Borough councillor questioned whether a £10 million pledge for flood alleviation by the previous Conservative administration will be delivered.

At a virtual meeting of the Flood Liaison Group on Wednesday, October 11, Cllr Ewan Larcombe (NFPP, Datchet, Horton and Wraysbury) questioned the figure and asked officers if the money would still be available for flood defences.

Cllr Larcombe said: “I am concerned about the £10 million pounds. There’s less than a million in there for flood defence.

“Who has told you that there’s £10 million pounds in the kitty?”

Information updated on the Government’s website in March concerning the Datchet to Hythe End Flood Improvement Measures project stated that the original commitment of £10 million by the previous Conservative administration ‘is still ring-fenced to contribute to alternative flood alleviation works’.

The Datchet to Hythe End Flood Improvement Measures project was established after the wider River Thames scheme proceeded without the involvement of the Royal Borough due to the council failing to raise the necessary funds.

At the meeting, the council's flood risk manager Ben Crampin said the figure of less than a million that Cllr Larcombe is referring to is the contribution for this stage of the project.

He added that the rest of the money which was committed to by the previous administration is something ‘that would have always come from borrowing’, officers have been told.

“So while that commitment [of the money] hasn’t been made by the new administration, we’ve not been told any differently that the plans will be changing.

“So as such, we’ve been carrying on as planned.”

He added: “Obviously one thing we’ll have to do as officers is go back to cabinet for an official opinion on it, but we’ve not been told any differently that the funding is not there.”

Meeting chair Cllr David Buckley (TBFI, Datchet, Horton and Wraysbury) added that at the moment the money is in the budget, but it will not come in until 2024.